ACC and the Urban Futures Studio at Utrecht University are undertaking a two-year investigation into processes of futuring that can advance traction for sustainable urban transitions among city leaders and decision-makers. The project rests on the assumption that sustainable urban development requires a break with the present logic of development that predominates in most African countries. This logic is tethered to a modernist vision of advanced post-industrial development that thrives through extractive energy and production systems, reinforced by a consumerist culture. In this imagination chamber, cities are the most sophisticated expressions of modernist progress and productive circulation, manifest in highways, skyscrapers, pristine suburbs and convenience for urban consumers. The environmental, social and economic costs of these ambitions are usually ignored. The project recognizes that there is now considerable evidence and discourse on what sustainable urbanism might entail in an African context, but this has not been translated into compelling narratives that are resonant with political and policy leaders. The project asks, how might this be changed? How can examples of emergent experiments in sustainability inform new narratives? What kind of institutional and regulatory adaptations and inventions are required to translate experimental intent to the new normal?
WORTH
- The fellowship are valued at R350,000 per annum and is tenable for one year, and renewable for a total of up to two years subject to satisfactory progress.
ELIGIBILITY
- Applicants are expected to have completed a doctoral degree in an area of study relevant to urban studies within the past five years (e.g. Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, and related fields).
- Applicants may not previously have held permanent full-time professional or academic posts.
- As the Lab has a pan-African focus, applicants should have extensive knowledge of cities across at least two different sub-regions of Africa as defined by the United Nations (Southern Africa, East Africa, Middle Africa, West Africa, and Northern Africa) and a track record of relevant research and publication.
- Fluency in English is a requirement and fluency in French will be an advantage.
- The successful candidate will be required to comply with the University’s approved policies, procedures, and practices for the postdoctoral sector.
DEADLINE: June 10, 2022
To apply and for more information visit here
